Conventionally, coin sorting devices discriminate inserted coins as genuine and counterfeit, and classify genuine coins according to their denomination, and sort out the genuine coins by distributing them into predetermined coin paths. In such conventional coin sorting devices, a coin pullout prevention lever is provided as a countermeasure against preventing mischievous pulling out of inserted coins.
FIG. 6 is a front view of a gate plate 2, showing the main parts of a coin sorting device equipped with a conventional coin pullout prevention lever.
This gate plate 2 constitutes one side wall 4a of a coin guiding passage 4 for guiding coins that have been inserted into coin insertion port 3 towards the left in the drawing. The gate plate 2, which can freely be opened and closed, covers the upper portion of a main plate (not shown in the drawings), which is part of the main body of the coin sorting device, and arranged in opposition to the gate plate 2.
The gate plate 2 is hinged on a shaft 5 and it can be opened and closed with respect to the main plate (not shown in the drawings) arranged in opposition to its main surface, so that when coins are stuck in the coin guiding passage 4, the coin guiding passage can be opened, and the stuck coins can be removed.
A coin pullout prevention lever 1 is arranged downstream of the coin guiding passage 4, so as to effectively prevent mischievous pulling out of inserted coins by force with some means such as a string.
This coin pullout prevention lever 1 is one lever that is rotatably supported by a shaft (not shown in the drawings) on the rear surface of the gate plate 2, and in its initial position, its tip 1a protrudes due to its own weight towards the main plate (not shown in the drawings), which is arranged in opposition to the front surface of the gate plate 2.
A pass sensor 6 for detecting coins falling down from the downstream of the coin guiding passage 4 is arranged in the main plate positioned below the coin pullout prevention lever 1. When an inserted coin is detected by this pass sensor 6, the coin is regarded as a deposit in the coin sorting device.
Numeral 7 in FIG. 6 is a coin discrimination device, for discriminating the inserted coins into genuine and counterfeit, and for classifying them according to denominations. This coin discrimination device 7 includes an oscillation coil and a receiving coil arranged in opposition to one another at a certain interval. One of the oscillation coil and the receiving coil is arranged on the rear surface of the gate plate 2, and the other one is arranged on the rear surface of the main plate (not shown in the drawings) at a position opposing the gate plate 2.
Further, in FIG. 6, numeral 8 is a gate rail arranged below the coin insertion port 3, numeral 9 is a guide rail, which makes up the bottom of the coin passage 4, and numeral 10 denotes concave positioning members formed along an advance direction of the coin passage 4, which decrease the areal contact with the inserted coin, and smoothly guide the coin. Numeral 60 in FIG. 6 denotes liquid discharge holes for discharging liquids (such as water) that have been introduced through the coin insertion port 3.
With this coin pullout prevention lever 1, when an inserted coin A, to which a string 11 has been tied, rolls down the coin guiding passage 4, falls down from the downstream edge of the coin guiding passage 4, and is detected by the pass sensor 6 as shown in FIG. 7, and if anyone tries to pull the coin A back out again with the string 11, as shown in FIG. 8, the coin A engages with a tip rear face 1b of the coin pullout prevention lever 1, so that it can be prevented from being pulled back out.
Needless to say that when the coin A engages with the tip rear face 1b of the coin pullout prevention lever 1, the tip 1a of the coin pullout prevention lever 1 abuts the opposing main plate (not shown in the drawings), so that the rotation is blocked.
In this conventional coin pullout prevention lever 1, the distance L from the tip 1a of the coin pullout prevention lever 1 to the pass sensor 6 is constant, as shown in FIG. 6. Thus, if a coin B with a diameter larger than the distance L is inserted as shown in FIG. 9, it occurs that even when the sensor 6 confirms the insertion of the coin B, the coin B still has not moved completely downward from the tip 1a of the coin pullout prevention lever 1.
In this case, the coin B, whose insertion has been confirmed by the pass sensor 6, still pushes the tip 1a of the coin pullout prevention lever 1 towards the gate plate 2, and therefore the coin B does not engage the tip rear face 1b of the coin pullout prevention lever 1. Consequently, if in this situation the coin B is pulled up again with a string 11, there is the problem that the coin B can be pulled back out through the con insertion port 3.
To solve this problem, the distance L' from the lower edge 1a of the coin pullout prevention lever 1 to the pass sensor 6 is set to be larger than the diameter of the larger coin B, as shown in FIG. 11, then the entire coin B will have moved completely downward from the tip 1a of the coin pullout prevention lever 1 when its insertion is being confirmed by the pass sensor 6. As a result, if one tries to pull the coin B back out with the string 11, the coin B engages the tip rear face 1b of the coin pullout prevention lever 1 as shown in FIG. 12, and its backflow is prevented, thereby preventing the pullout of the coin B.
However, to set the distance L' from the lower edge 1a of the coin pullout prevention lever 1 to the pass sensor 6 larger than the diameter of the larger coin B, as shown in FIG. 11, that is, larger than the distance L in FIG. 6 (L'&gt;L), the design of the entire main plate of the coin sorting device has to be changed considerably. This makes it necessary to provide different types of coin sorting devices with pass sensors 6 that are arranged at different positions depending on the diameter of the coins whose pulling out is to be prevented, which results in a considerable increase of cost for manufacturing coin sorting devices.
In view of these problems, it is an object of the invention to present a coin pullout prevention lever that prevents the pulling out of coins with various diameters without altering the basic design of a coin sorting device.